Shot By His Wife
Frank Hunter, Proprietor of a Chippewa Falls Resort
June 20, 1895 | Eau Claire Weekly Free Press

Frank Hunter, proprietor of Hunter’s resort, just outside of Chippewa Falls, was shot and badly wounded by his wife Tuesday. Mrs. Hunter, better known as “Big Minnie,” missing $1500 in currency from her private drawer in their room, accused Hunter of taking it. During the quarrel which ensued Mrs. Hunter drew a revolver and opened fire at him, firing five shots, two taking effect in his shoulder as he was making his escape out of a door. How badly wounded Hunter is is not known, as no trace of him can be found.

Chad’s Take - Don’t mess with Big Minnie

Like nearly all of the other articles that I dig up, there is a lot more to the story than what was only printed in the newspaper. When I first read this article I was under the naïve belief that Mrs. Hunter was merely a scorned woman desperate to retrieve her missing funds. Yes, I do understand that grabbing a revolver and unloading a barrage of lead at your husband’s head is probably a smidge overboard, yet in 1895, $1,500 was a hefty sum of money. Perhaps the $1,500 represented her life savings, or maybe an important family inheritance. One would think that having a wife with the moniker “Big Minnie” would be enough of a deterrent to keep Mr. Hunter on the straight and narrow, but unfortunately the article is too vague and the subsequent removal of the money was never fully explained. But by now I was fully intrigued with the case and decided to delve deeper into the story, and what I found was that Big Minnie seemed to be extremely comfortable with shooting bullets at men.

Since no printed account of the couple’s reunion was discovered I will leave it up to you to picture the exact scenario of couple’s eventual reconciliation. The only reason that I even know they were reunited comes from another article printed 1898. The article tells that around 11:30 at night, Mr. Hunter was busy tending to his busy bar clientele while Big Minnie was relaxing in the adjoining room. Two rough looking men entered the saloon and ordered up some drinks. When the drinks were delivered, instead of paying for them, the two men whipped out their guns and stated that it was a stickup. In an instant the bar got eerily quiet. In the next room, Big Minnie heard the drop in noise and immediately sensed that something was wrong. She grabbed her gun and launched herself into the bar and began shooting up the place. One of the bullets struck the main bandit, and the two robbers, along with the bar’s patrons, quickly stampeded their way out. In all of the crossfire, Big Minnie was struck with a bullet to her head. The sheriff was called and he followed the trail of blood oozing from the robber to a carriage area where the two men escaped. Big Minnie was treated by a doctor and luckily survived her encounter with the would-be thieves. No further details of the incident were published and one has to wonder just how many bizarre stories of Big Minnie and Hunter’s Resort have been lost to history.

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